Different from the rest
by Halo lady
Summary: when the Kaminoans genetically cloned Jango for their Clone Army, the created one-five, an experimantal Clone. the only female of her kind. specially designed to fight at peak levels, she takes it upon herself to take the first steps to battle.
1. The Beginning

She knew she was different from the others. For starters, all the others were guys. When she had asked why Taun-We had said, "Because you are something entirely different from them." She had also gotten private training instead of training in the big shooting galleries like the boys did. She was stronger and faster, she had excellent vision and could practically see in the dark. She had asked why. And she got the same answer.

She also had her private quarters and her own gym. Nobody knew about her except the Kaminoans. And there was almost always one around while she was awake. They would glide in and out of her training, meals, asking her questions, being friendly, and taking notes.

At one point, when she was "fifteen" they took her into a lab and did some sort of procedure on her. She had been unable to move properly for a week. She felt as though things were moving too slow. Things seemed lighter and when something fell, it looked at though it was going through water.

"Taun-We," she said one day, two weeks after the surgery. "Can I go and train with the Deltas today?"

Taun-We shook her head slowly. "No, I apologize, One-five." She said in the silky voice that all Kaminoans had. "You can't. You are not fit for battle yet."

One-five pulled a face. "Can I ever go and train with the others?" she asked. Taun-We shook her head again. One-five rolled her eyes. "I know what we are, you know." She said flatly. "I know our purpose. I want to fulfill my destiny. I want to fight."

Taun-We looked at her, her large and luminous eyes sad. "You cannot fight, One-five. I'm sorry." Taun-We stood up and glided away, her silk outfit glimmering as she strode out the door.

"Don't call me One-five if I can't fight." The girl muttered and crossed her arms huffily.

Another Kaminoan, Lin-Yu, strode over to One-five and placed a hand on her shoulder. One-five looked up at him and smiled. Lin-Yu was one of the only Kaminoans that understood the way she thought. He had personally overseen her training and even sat at her bedside after the surgery. "One-five, don't worry," he said. "You will see your day in battle."

One-five nodded, her eyes regaining the spark. _She is defiantly different from the other subjects._ Lin-Yu thought. _Her physical traits are almost completely different. She has the same smirk, but the host for all the subjects had brown eyes, while One-five has those ice-blue eyes. Her hair and facial features… based on that analysis, this girl is not a clone. She is someone different. _

One-five tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear and said "Lyn-Yu, sir, I think I need a haircut." She smiled at his expression and followed him out of the room. She followed obediently until there was a distraction. Taun-We had stopped Lin-Yu in the middle of the hallway, and One-five took the opportunity to wander around the facility. She marveled at how many clones there were.

_But that's what it takes to build an army…_ she thought. There were clones of every age possible from able-bodied 'adults' training in the sims, to 'teenagers' studying in the learning center. One-five leaned over the guardrail, fascinated. She tried to count, but they all looked the same. _Duh, that's what a clone is you know._ She said to herself.

She had gone over every schematic of the facility in her spare time, honing her computer slicing skills and knew this place front to back. After about a week, she was able to slice the main computer in ten seconds flat and cover her footprints so she wouldn't get caught

Turning a corner, One-five entered the armory. There were blasters, sniper attachments, anti-armour attachments, grenades. You name it, it was most likely there. She stood in the doorway then cautiously made her way into the room. One slip and everything went up in a big ball of blue-green flame. She picked up a sniper attachment and ran her fingers over it fondly, smiling to herself.

Placing it down, One-five walked gingerly out the sliding door. If she lingered, she might get caught. And getting caught meant no training. And no training was bad, very bad. She pulled at the sleeve of her blue uniform, nervously looking around and ducked behind a corner as a duo of Kaminoan techs strode by, their soft voices muted by the walls.

_Too close,_ One-five thought. She found her save haven a few moments later. She was sitting outside in the rain, on the roof of the facility. Sitting back, One-five let the rain wash over her face, relishing the cool feeling. She gazed up into the seemingly solid clouds and saw lightning flicker somewhere far above. Her ears pricked as an unfamiliar noise started to drone on.

It was a deep rumbling, quiet at first, but growing louder every second. One-five slid back on the roof, watching a lone red starfighter land on the dock outside the front door. She inched forward again, not caring if her soaking hair got in her eyes. The person in the ship opened the hatch, and pulled on a hood quickly. Interested, One-five was on the very edge of the roof now, leaning over trying to see the person's face.

She hopped down, inadvertently making a splash as her boots hit the deck. The person whipped around, in a fighting stance. "Sorry, sir," One five said, raising her hands slightly to show she was unarmed. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The person eased up and strode under the cover if the overhang before he said anything. "What are you doing out here?" he asked. His voice had a 'British' accent to it.

One-five looked at him, still standing in the rain. "I was thinking." She said, tugging on her soaked sleeve. "What are you doing here?" she asked in kind. "Kamino's a backwater planet-literally. What would a Jedi want with us?"

The Jedi looked at her oddly and said nothing for a moment. Then he opened the door. "You coming in?" he said, holding open the door. One-five nodded and quickly stepped into the building. "What's your name?" the Jedi asked, pulling his hood down, revealing a sandy-haired head. He also sported a short beard.

"I just go by One-five." She responded. "My full number is number SOC- 11748/15. One-five is just shorter, don't you think?" she paused and said, "What's your name? It's only polite."

The man smiled to himself and responded "Kenobi. General Obi-Wan Kenobi."

One-five stared. "General?" she said aloud. "Then, you've got to be with the Republic!" she was getting excited now. Maybe this Jedi could convince Taun-We to let her fight.

"One-five!" someone called out from behind her. Lin-Yu. He hurried over to her and scolded her for running off. Then, noticing she was soaked, scolded her for going out in the rain. And while that was going on, Taun-We was apologizing to the Jedi.

"Please excuse One-five." She was saying. "She is a little over-excited to be out of bed, please, come this way…" she motioned him off to the viewing areas and One-five was hustled off to get into clean clothes.

"Lin-Yu, what's wrong with me?" One-five asked sometime later. Lin-Yu raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "I'm _different_, Lin-Yu." She started. "First, I'm a _girl_, second, I've not been taught like the others were, next, people don't even know I exist. Finally, you let everybody else fight, but not me. Lin, what's with that?"

Lin-Yu smiled sadly. "I'm not sure, One-five."

"And stop calling me that!" she said, standing up. "Everyone has a name, a nickname, something. I know, Lin-Yu. I've read the files." She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I've read the files." She repeated. One-five cast Lin-Yu a sad look and walked slowly out of the room. As the door shut behind her, One-five leaned wearily against the wall. _That's it; I'm leaving with the next outbound ship._

She headed towards her room, made a U-turn and headed to the holding area for the armor and gear. She explained to the Kaminoan on duty that she wanted a custom-fit suit. She stood there for ten minutes while the Kaminoan did a scan to figure out her size. It took another hour to get the molds made, and another three hours for it to be deemed combat-ready.

The armor was comprised of a thin form-fitting black hydrostatic gel layer that adjusted according to the temperature of the environment, on top of that was a layer of semi-transparent padding, and it went under every piece of the white over-armor. The entire thing was pressure-sealed, and was suitable for EVA maneuvers. One-five had no choice in the color, and ended up with the blue-booted, blue-gauntleted Recon armor.

Once the process had been finished, One-five flexed her hand and stretched. It was all right. Just like wearing a bulky second skin, and that she could get used to. She was given a brief overview of how the shielding system worked, how to apply Bakta- a miracle healer that cured any sort of ailment, cut bruise, etc- and sealing her helmet before going EVA.

One-five nodded and walked out of the room, feeling extremely accomplished. She headed out the nearest exit-she didn't want Taun-We or anybody else to see her sneaking out. She scrambled over the rooftops to the docking bays, and looked around. _I finally get my day in battle,_ she thought as she walked through the lines of minor troops. She was pulled aside once or twice, but was allowed to pass. One told her to head to the ship with the four commandos waiting for dustoff.

She said nothing to the four, and stood there, looking expectantly at the sky. _Thank the Gods I have a helmet on…_ she thought. The four commandos spoke to each other through private COM channels, but One-five could hear every word.

"Hey, Four-oh," one was saying, "You know who the Recon is?"

The commando in green shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No, should we ask?" he paused for a moment.

"What do you think, Boss?" the Yellow one said again, turning to the orange-clad warrior. "We've got the Sniper, the Slicer, yours truly the Demo-man, and you, Three-eight. What good could he do us? We've never trained with him before, so what makes you think he might not be a liability?"

"Shut your mouth, Scorch." The sniper said, his voice deep and almost grating. The paint on his armor stained it like the blood of an enemy. "You just said that on the _open_ channel."

Scorch cocked his head to one side. "Did I?" he said, back on the private channel. "Oops... Let's hope he wasn't paying attention."

One-five had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him. The dropship came a few minutes later, and One-five stood as far away from them as possible. She hung onto the grip that was attached to the ceiling as she felt the ship accelerate. She was leaving the only safe haven she had ever known. Death lay before her, that was certain, but she didn't care. She was fulfilling her destiny. She was going to fight. _Lin-Yu is going to kill me when I get back…_

Scorch looked at the Recon from out of the corner of his eye. He was just standing there, eying the ground moodily. There was something odd about him, just the way he stood, and the way he was built. He was shorter and lankier than everybody else.

_I wonder if I should try and say something,_ Scorch thought. _He seems nervous. It might make him feel better…_ He opened up a private channel to the Ranger. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" The Recon nodded. It was slight, and nobody else caught it but him. But he said nothing. _Maybe he's the quiet type that kicks ass out in the field._ Scorch said to himself, sighing and clicking off the COM. The Ranger said nothing as they docked with the starship, and he avoided contact with almost everyone.

When they were all grouped together, Sev, Fixer, Boss, the Recon and him, the Recon kept as far away as possible. _He's extremely anti-social, that could pose an issue…_ Scorch thought. Scorch voiced his concern after a mandatory informational meeting.

Sev pulled the Recon aside and said, "What's your deal?" His hand was on the Ranger's shoulder, pinning him to the wall. "You avoid contact with almost everything, don't show up for meals, and never talk. Are you nervous or just stupid?"

The Recon's glare could not be seen, but Sev could feel his eyes boring into his faceplate. "Well?" he persisted. The Recon didn't answer as far as Scorch could tell, but Sev apparently thought otherwise. He released the Recon and said nothing more on the topic.

The Recon hurried off in another direction and rounded a corner. "What's up with you, Sev?" Scorch said testily. "Apparently, he's a rookie. Give him some space would you?" Sev glared at him through the helmet and stalked away in the same direction as the Recon. _Jeez, one new addition and everybody's ready to kill each other._

One-five slipped into her quarters and pulled off her helmet. Her eyes were watering with rage and hatred for that sniper. 'Sev' he had been called. _A name, _One-five thought, _he's got a name…_ that made her even angrier. _Names, I have not a one._ She thought bitterly. _Just a number… a stupid number…_

A week later, Delta Squad and One-five were deployed to Geonosis in an attempt to do one thing or another. She hadn't really paid attention to the orders, immersed as she was in her own thoughts. _Geonosians are disgusting little insects…_ One-five thought to herself. _And their Elites are no picnic to deal with either…_ Crossing her arms, she leaned up against the wall of the dropship.

"Alright boys, let's move out!" Three-eight called, waving the other three over. One-five followed, jogging rather than sprinting. She and the others boarded seperate dropships and she was stuck with the sniper. One-five said nothing and kept to herself. It was hard to count how many times she had to stop herself from talking. If she said just one word, everything would go out the window.

The others had become used to her anti-socialism, and the sniper just ignored it as she went to stand by a foot soldier. She grasped the hanging grip tightly as a wind caused slight turbulence. "I'm losing it!" she heard the pilot cry out. "Brace for impact!" One-five hung on for her life as the ship impacted the ground with a bone-crunching _thud_. She was jolted from her corner and landed on top of the sniper.

She shoved his head to the side and stood up. Rubbing her arm, she walked out of the wrecked ship. There were rock formations everywhere; the planet seemed to be nothing but. One-five quickly surveyed the area for hostiles. Nothing yet, but considering the noise that they had made, there were soon to be those insects crawling all over the place.

She trotted back to the wreckage and pillaged a blaster. There were only a hundred shots left, so she had to be careful not to waste her ammo. She scrounged around for a sidearm as Oh-Seven received orders. She hadn't paid attention and he headed off without her.

"Damn," One-five muttered to herself. Then she mentally slapped herself for speaking. Thankfully, no COM channel was open and her helmet didn't let sound out if the speakers weren't turned on. Looking around, she pulled up a topography map and found the quickest route to the trooper base. It was a half a click way and it would take her about a half hour if she ran into as many enemies as she assumed she would.

"Okay, you're on your own this time," One-five said to herself. It was odd, but it was reassuring. "This is no sim, so no matter what happens, you're _not_ going to die, understand? No dying just yet, One-five. You've got a name to earn." She started off toward the nearest canyon pass and she was off to make a name for herself.

As the Delta squad blasted their way through a few barricades, Scorch smiled to himself. "That blew up real nicely." He said and trotted forward, in the standard formation like he always would. He looked around and thought _something's not right here…_ he paused for a moment and stopped walking. _We've got Sev, Fixer, Boss… what's the matter then?_ Then the thought hit him: the Recon. He had gone with Sev and when Sev showed up, the Recon hadn't been with him.

"Uh, Boss," Scorch said over a team-wide channel. "We've got a minor problem."

Boss turned around, noticed that Scorch had fallen behind and stopped running as well. "What?" he asked, his voice slightly annoyed.

"We're missing one, don't you think?" Scorch hinted. Every head turned to one another as they tried to figure it out.

"The Recon." Fixer said quietly. "We're missing the Recon." He turned to Sev. "Wasn't he with you, Sev?" Sev nodded.

"Yeah, so?" Sev said, his voice cold.

"So, if he gets captured…" Fixer started.

"He wont say a thing." Sev cut him off. "We all know that a squad member would rather die than tell an enemy anything."

Scorch rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you should've made sure he was behind you. This sounds like you just walked off without him."

"I did," Sev replied flatly. "He wasn't paying attention and I left without

him."

"SEV!" Boss said exasperatedly. He sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We can just hope for the best." Everyone nodded and they continued onward. They had a job to finish; they'd find the Recon later.

Shoot, kill, turn, shoot, kill. It got very monotonous after a while, and One-five soon became numb with the killing. Every once or twice, droid oil or Geonosian blood would splatter on her faceplate and a blue static line would slowly move across it to clear her vision. It was taking too long; she should have reached the base a while ago.

One-five sidestepped and hid behind a rock, pulling out her sniper attachment. She had found the thing on the ground and immediately pilfered it. Zooming in to 20X, she spotted a few lazy droids and Geonosians. Their lives ended within the next few seconds. Patting her weapon and smiling grimly, One-five slowly made her way up a nearby rock formation that had a fairly decent view.

It was an overhang looking out over a facility that had heavy shielding and weaponry. There were dozens of foot soldiers either dead or dying in the thirty-meter stretch between a single pass between two rocks and the facility itself. One-five could hear their moans through the COM and she had to bite her lip to keep from talking to them and reassuring them.

She laid down on the rock and brought her rifle to bear, targeting the turret operators. Four shots rang out, the gun making a slight coughing noise as each shot was fired, and four Geonosian turret operators died. Then she targeted the turrets themselves. It took four rounds each to destroy them. _If anybody's coming through here any time soon, they're going to have it easy._ One-five thought to herself. _'Cause I did all the work._

She crawled down the formation and tried to make her way as stealthily as possible, sniping at every chanced she got. Sometimes, when she was feeling confident, she would throw a thermal detonator in the midst of a group of enemies then instigate a wild firefight. It was a way for anger management, and after every battle, One-five felt more relaxed. She felt no remorse for killing droids or Geonosians. Droids were machines after all, and Geonosians weren't even humanoid.

It had been twelve hours since the crash landing, and One-five was scanning the topography once more. She had taken a wrong turn about ten hours back and had to turn around. It was that, or go through the underground tunnels that contained more than the occasional Geonosian. There were Super Battle Droids; something not to be messed with when you're low on ammo and grenades, then the Geonosian Elites and their 'Pyro Sticks' would turn you to a cinder before you said "tag, you're toast."

Deciding on making her own path, One-five put the topography map on her HUD and stuck a NAV point on her objective. "Okay, One-five," she said. "This is it, crunch time… sort of… Just get back there in one piece." Gritting her teeth, she hopped down from a rock and onto another a meter below. She climbed, fell, scrambled and scaled over mountainous terrain for about three hours.

"Maybe going this way wasn't the best idea in the world…" she muttered as she hung from one arm over a thousand-meter drop. She grunted as she pulled herself up onto the ledge. She flopped down on the rock for thirty seconds and rested. She needed Bakta, and she didn't have an attachment just in case. Her Achilles tendon on her left leg had torn, she had strained her back in two places, and she thought that her left wrist was sprained.

Standing up, One-five looked over her map for the thousandth time that hour. She saw four FOF tags and noticed the numbers "07", "40", "26" and "38". Delta Squad. They were heading to the same objective point that she was. _Good._ One-five thought. _Maybe they're done with whatever they're doing. And when I see Sev, I'm going to kick his ass so hard…_ her thought trailed off as a grunt was heard over the COM channel.

One-five looked over the ledge and saw Four-oh hit the dirt, unconscious. She jumped down, guns blazing and shot a few droids that were about to step on Fixer's body. Kneeling down, One-five pulled out 'the Shocker' as it was widely known, and tended to Fixer, ignoring the battle going on. It blipped a few times then sent a jolt through Fixer's body that made him flinch violently. She pulled him to his feet and gave him his blaster back. Fixer nodded to her and they stood back to back, covering each other.

She sent a message via encryption codes to Fixer's helmet. _What's going on? I'll help if you need an extra pair of eyes._ "Keep shooting." Was all Fixer said. "That would help." One-five nodded and did just that.

Afterward, she stuck around long enough to heal herself and was evacuated as soon as possible to tend to her Achilles and her wrist. As she followed the medic into the ship, Scorch stood there, staring in wonder. "Nice shooting." He said in admiration. "You have a name?" he asked. One-five sent her number to his HUD. "No, I mean a _name_, not just your number." She shook her head. Scorch crossed his arms. "Not cool. Well, we'll think of something and tell you when you get back."

One-five nodded. She took her pointer finger and middle finger and made a 'smile' on her helmet. Something she had picked up from observing the others train. Scorch did the same and turned away. This team, Delta Squad, they weren't too bad…


	2. Ghost Ship Recon Disaster

DAY 257, DROPSHIP, EN ROUTE TO GHOSTSHIP

One-five, also known as 'Vinn', worked with the Delta squad since the Geonosis incident. The squad in general was called upon for increasingly dangerous missions such as sabotage, infiltration and assault missions. Vinn would accompany the squad on a few, but spent a large amount of time on Kamino and other planets, working as a bodyguard, an under cover agent and more of the stealth operations.

She has kept the fact that she is no normal Commando a secret from the Delta team and the rest of the galaxy for the entire time she has been in service. Her number was added to the Delta team roster three moths after the Geonosis incident. Of course, as she predicted, Lin-Yu gave her that verbal beating upon her return and Taun-We had also lectured her for a while.

Currently, Vinn is en route to an abandoned republic ship to rendezvous with Delta squad at 0600 hours.

Vinn stood up and walked over to the display case. She lightly ran her fingers over the glass and sighed. Her armor was brand new and custom-fitted. Her only issue with that was it was a mirror image of her body; it followed every curve and it would blow the whole thing.

Her old armor had been fried on her last mission. Assigned to protect an ambassador from separatist spies, she had been caught in crossfire and all the circuits had been overloaded. She had headed back to Kamino for a refit, and someone let slip that there was to be a total custom fit. It fit perfectly and it was much better than her old one. But it was too perfect.

She was being shipped off to meet up with the Deltas. Vinn hadn't seen them in a bit, but received communiqués and updates weekly from Scorch. She smiled to herself as she sat down at the desk. She pulled up the Delta's profiles and personal records. Each commando had their own file plus a record timing every one of the individual missions to date.

"_SCORCH_" She read to herself. She smiled as she skimmed over the description that his closer superiors had given him.

"_RC-1262 _

_War does funny things to people. Similarly, some people do funny things with war. Six-Two is the Delta's resident wisecracker, regularly dropping a world-weary bon mot into the stew of violence and destruction that serves as the Deltas' steady diet. A competent soldier, and an excellent explosives technician, Six-Two has an overdeveloped sense of irony that could be mistaken for fatalism. 'Scorch' earned his nickname after an ordnance accident that left him and Sergeant Walon Vau without eyebrows for a short time."_

Vinn smiled. She had only seen pictures of Sergeant Vau and could just picture him with no eyebrows. She actually pulled up his file and edited out the eyebrows for the heck of it. She laughed long and hard at the serious picture of the Sergeant eyebrow less. Next was Boss' file.

_BOSS_

_RC- 2238_

Even among clones, there is a hierarchy. Three-Eight is undisputed leader of the Deltas. Relatively taciturn, when he speaks, it's usually to bark out an order to his squad. Three-Eight has earned the respect and loyalty of his squad, and he repays that dedication in strong leadership. Despite being trained by Walon Vau, Three-Eight somehow inherited Jango's strong Concord Dawn accent and speech patterns.

She wondered at who Jango might be. Maybe he's the donor for this whole thing. She thought to herself. Nodding, she said aloud "Come to think of it, I remember scanning my DNA before that surgery and tried to match it with the DNA records on Kamino. They matched with a 'Fett', maybe Jango's his first name…" shaking her head, Vinn moved on to Fixer.

_FIXER_

_RC-1240_

_The acknowledged 'second-in-command' of the Deltas is a gruff, by-the-book type of clone. He insists on calling his squad mates by their batch designations, rather than the more colorful nicknames they acquired. In the heat of battle, he's most often the one urging the rest of the group to press onward. Known to the others as 'Fixer,' Delta Four-Oh is the resident technology expert, and often handles computer slicing and code-breaking duties. Four-Oh was a favorite of the borderline sociopathic Vau - as they shared a common obsession with tech and tactics._

"He's a sociopath as well," Vinn said to herself. "When he's off-duty, he's tinkering with one thing or another…" she paused and stared at the screen blankly for a moment. Shaking herself mentally, she read the final file: Sev's

_SEV_

_RC-1207_

_Some soldiers fight because they have to; others fight because they like it. Oh-Seven is definitely one of the latter. Most of the time he's a coldly efficient killer with a grim sense of humor. But when things get hairy, he gets scary. Other members of the squad suspect that someone spiked his cloning vat._

Vinn laughed aloud after she read the final sentence. "It's true, most likely." She said. She remembered spilling some chemical or another, most likely alcohol, accidentally onto a cloning vat when she was younger. It must have leaked through. "Oops…" she had said, and high-tailed it out of there, allowing the blame to fall on some other unfortunate soul. Vinn had thought that the clone had been killed off; instead, it was most likely Sev.

"At least I know why he dislikes me so much," she smiled to herself. "I'd be mad at me if I had been in his position…"

A voice sounded over the COM. "One-five, we'll be ready in ten."

"Acknowledged." She said and strode over to the display case. She opened the door and pulled out her helmet, the blue paint shining and new. "Be there in five."

Vinn pulled on her helmet as she walked brusquely out of her room. She stopped by the armory and picked up a blaster and some useful attachments. She attached a sniper pack to her left leg and walked out with a handful of extra clips for the rifle. "Alright," she said to a trooper at the airlock. "Let me at it." The airlock door opened and Vinn jumped out into the vacuum of space.

"One-five," a voice said over the COM, "you're going to need to meet up with the rest of the Delta squad as soon as possible. This mission is very vital."

"Roger." Vinn said as she headed toward a maintenance hatch on the outer hull. You know, she thought to herself, I can talk with the troops normally, and I barely even know them, but I can't speak a word to my team… weird…

She landed softly on the hatch and pried it open, slipping inside as the ship automatically resealed it.

Okay, Vinn thought, oh where oh were have my dear Deltas gone? She smirked as the singsong tune played in her head for a moment. She followed the maintenance shafts into the main ship and stumbled upon a few scavenger droids. One dove at her head and latched onto her helmet.

Vinn released her melee knife and gutted the piece of trash, throwing it violently to the ground. Kicking it, she continued on. There wasn't much to fight except for stragglers; it seemed as though the Deltas came through here already. Or one of them had. Observing the way the Trandosian bodies were scattered around, the scorch marks on the once-neatly polished metal flooring, and how most of the bodies were halfway up the walls, it was safe to assume that Scorch had come this way.

Just follow the dead bodies… Vinn thought grimly. And she did just that. After a few moments, she deviated into an air duct. She had heard a scream and was interested on what it was. Peeking down from the duct, she saw Three-eight, Boss, take down a green-skinned Trandosian. She clicked her COM twice, signaling that she was around and opened the grating to the hallway.

Three-eight didn't respond. Either he was preoccupied or she was seeing things. Sighing, she turned around, looking for him. I'm seeing things, that's not good. Vinn thought. Shaking her head, she moved onward.

Walking cautiously through a door, a projectile weapon sounded and Vinn was almost blown off her feet. Regaining her balance, she fired away at a few stubby Slavers. Their green scaly faces contorted in pain as the plasma from her weapon sliced them open. A few droids showed up and soon enough, it was a party. There were about fifty of them, one of her. She ducked behind a corner and chucked a grenade into the group. Static sounded in her speakers and 'pained' cries from the droids pierced the air.

Grinning, Vinn sidestepped from around the corner and took down a majority of them. Her shields had been almost fully drained and her health status bar was winking orange. Not good.

A shot rang out from behind her and she heard someone call out "You need a hand?"

Without thinking, she replied "No, doing just fine here all by myself." Her voice was slightly sarcastic as she shot another droid in the head. It spun around on its heel, shooting wildly and fell to the floor. "I'm just almost dead, out of thermal detonators, out of Anti-armor ammo, I have no secondary weapon, my pistol does nothing to these losers, oh, and I'm on my last clip of blaster ammo. Doin' swell"

"Almost as sarcastic as you, Scorch." A familiar voice said. It was that 'Concord Dawn' accent. Boss. Crap.

Vinn turned around after she had finished killing off a slaver. "Hi." She said calmly. Behind her helmet, she was sweating. She had to respond to that. She hadn't seen them in so long, she had forgotten that sarcasm and tone of voice. Slapping herself mentally, she forced herself to stand and take any lecture that Boss had planned for her.

Instead he said nothing and brushed past her, motioning for the others to follow. Sev turned around and gave her a baleful look from behind his faceplate. Darnit, Vinn thought. They would have noticed the armor anyway. She lowered her head for a moment and trailed along behind the squad. I really did it this time.

An explosion sounded off to Vinn's left. She whipped her head around and saw fire. Looking at the retreating Delta squad, she headed toward the source. A clone trooper lay on his back, clutching a wound at his side. "You alright?" Vinn asked, kneeling down. "What happened?" she said as she applied Bakta to his wound. That was prohibited, but she felt obligated to help the trooper.

"This thing… I think… a Trandosian…" the trooper started. His voice was strained. Vinn knew he wasn't going to make it and stopped the Bakta application. "But it was huge…it couldn't have been a slaver… it was…" the trooper's voice trailed off and he went loose in her arms. Vinn stared at the trooper's body.

"A Trandosian? But not a Trandosian? Odd..." she stood up, took the trooper's ID tag and turned to investigate the fire and explosion. Another explosion rocked the decks, throwing her off balance.

"Deltas, report!" Boss barked over the COM.

"Oh-Seven fit for battle."

"Four-zero, a-okay."

"Six-two, ready to go."

Vinn was going to respond, but was tossed off her feet as the door next to her blew open. She cried out in pain as she hit the metal wall. "One-Five, report!" Boss yelled into the COM.

Vinn coughed and tasted copper. " Nasty," she muttered to herself. "Just fine, Boss," she said, pulling herself off the floor. "One-five, ready to… oh my god…" a huge figure stepped out of the burning doorway and looked Vinn square in the faceplate. It was big, green and scaly. "Like a Trandosian, but not a Trandosian…" she muttered. "Boss," she said into the COM, "we've got one big-ass non-friendly down here. This might take a few seconds." She took a fighting stance. There was no way that weapons could kill this thing. She'd have to do it the hard way.

"Bring it, lizard-boy!" Vinn shouted as she charged forward. She threw a punch and the thing blocked it. It had abandoned its weapon and was fighting with free hands. It grabbed her wrists and pulled her down, bringing its knee up at the same time. The creature's knee slammed into Vinn's gut. Time seemed to stand still as it pulled a roundhouse kick while she was still in the air.

She yelled out as she broke through three different walls and landed in the midst of power lines, broken metal and a myriad of other materials. She could tell her lip was bleeding. Coughing again, she got blood on the inside of her faceplate. "So nasty…" she murmured.

"Vinn, report." Boss said. He hardly ever used her nickname, except when he was ticked or worried.

She sent an encrypted message to his and the other's helmets. I can't move, leave me here, I'll be fine. Finish what you started. Don't worry about me.

"No can do, Vinn" Scorch said. "Nobody in this squad gets left behind."

Vinn found her voice and yelled into her mic. "Get out of here! I'll only get in your way!" there was no response. "What are you waiting for?" she cried as the Trandosian picked its way through the rubble. "Get going!"

"We're not leaving." Sev said harshly. Vinn stared at the massive Trandosian as it pointed its gun to her head.

"No, just… just go… I'll…" Vinn tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond. Move, darn you, move! She thought angrily at herself. Get up or you're dead! Move it! Her finger twitched in response. Move… please…

"Vinn," Scorch said into the COM. "Vinn!"

"I'm getting low vital signs from One-five." Fixer said. "If we want him to live, then I suggest we get moving."

"You mean if we want her to live, Fixer." Scorch corrected. "And yeah, it's right through this door." They rounded the corner and saw Vinn standing over the dead Trandosian Elite. "Vinn?" said Scorch.

Vinn looked slowly over at the sound of her name. Her vitals were dangerously low, and she looked shaky. Her knees buckled and she fell face first to the ground. She didn't get up again.

"Vinn!" Scorch exclaimed. "Sev, help me out here," Sev grunted and helped Scorch pick up Vinn's body. She was still breathing, but just barely.

"Sev… Scorch…" she managed to say. "I thought you had left… you should have left…"

"We are warriors here," Scorch said. "Nobody gets left behind." Vinn smiled. She lost consciousness and had to be carried the rest of the way.

The Trandosian…. What had happened? She looked wildly around and saw the Elite point his gun at her head. She willed her body to move and it did. She jumped up and landed behind the Trandosian. Leaping in the air she pulled a roundhouse kick to the back of his head, snapping its neck.

The bones made a sickening crunch as they snapped and the thing fell down face first on the ground. She walked over to the body and stared at it blankly. She heard someone call her name and she looked over to see the squad. They were all standing at the ready, willing to die helping a teammate.

Her knees gave out and she fell to the floor, unable to move again. She was hoisted up and was carried.

"We are warriors." One of them said. "Nobody gets left behind."

The words repeated in her head. Nobody gets left behind. Nobody.

Vinn regained consciousness in a soft bed of an infirmary. She looked blearily around and noticed an IV sticking out of her arm. How long was I out? She asked herself. I must have lost tons of blood… or something… what happened after I blacked out? She lay in the bed staring at nothing.

After a while, Vinn pulled up the mission logs from her portable data pad.

Mission 11346: AKA MISSION "GHOST SHIP"

SUCCESSFUL

DESC:

Mission Ghost Ship was successful. There were the proper sabotages performed and every member of the Delta Squad exited alive. The data on the ship had been sliced and downloaded to the Republic's main battle computer.

Even though Deltas 07 and 26 were captured, Deltas 38 and 40 successfully…

Vinn scrolled down the page. She knew that already… what happened afterwards?

Delta member 15 was

She skipped that part as well. She briefly scanned over the whole document, but found nothing. She would talk to the boys later and get what really happened. Vinn sat up again as a medic came into the room.

"You took quite the beating." The medic said, her voice soft. She checked Vinn's pulse and vital signs.

"Yeah, that Trandosian loser really did a number on me…" Vinn replied. "Hey, when can I get out of here?" The Med looked at her and smiled.

"Tomorrow. You'll be fine by then." Vinn smiled widely and nodded.

"Great." She said happily, lying back down on the bed. Even though it was cushy and she sunk in it, it was better than a rock, and she fell right to sleep.

The other members of the Delta Squad had been pulled off duty while Vinn recovered. They spent most of their time in the sim-rooms, working on tactical strategies. Nothing seemed to work without Vinn. They would engage a certain movement, then get ambushed at the rear- where Vinn usually covered.

"Okay, when's Vinn getting let off?" Scorch asked after the second day.

"Tomorrow." Sev responded. "I don't see why we can't just leave and come back… Vinn can handle herself."

Fixer and Boss said nothing. They both stood cross-armed, leaning against the wall, staring moodily at the tiled flooring. Every one of them was out of armor- by orders, not their preference- and tension was thick in the air. They all felt uncomfortable in this situation. This was something that none of them were good at: sitting and waiting.

Everybody's on edge for some reason. Sev thought. I cant take much more of this sitting… He stood up and headed to his quarters. "See you later," he said stiffly as he turned his back and walked away.

"Someone's feeling happy today," Scorch remarked quietly. He hated waiting, hated everything about hospitals, hated sitting still. Yet he was forced to endure every one of those items while Vinn recovered. Trying to be the hero… he thought. Then he corrected himself. No, just trying to do what she thought was best…


End file.
